16-year-old Jonatán Furucz, Slovakia leads the O (Open) class field after the first day of the PreO competition, held in cold conditions in Turku, Finland. Svein Jacobsen, Norway heads the P (Physically Challenged) Class. Competitors had a 32-control course in forest rich in contour and rock detail, and many were hard-pressed to complete the course in the maximum time. At the end one control (14) was voided, and no-one managed a complete score. Several dropped only one point, however. The course was followed by 2 timed controls, with the fastest competitors answering 6 tasks in less than 20 se ..read more

The TempO Final at the European TrailO Championships (ETOC) will be televised on Finnish TV and IOF TV as it takes place around the Paavo Nurmi stadium in Turku, Finland on Sunday afternoon, 12th May. This is a first for TrailO, with the whole orienteering world now able to experience the tension and excitement as the final stage of the TempO competition reaches its climax with Europe’s top elite vying for the medals. Finland’s Petteri Hakala is the defending champion. In a departure from normal practice, spectators will be able to go into the terrain and view competitors’ progress through all ..read more

The forest World Orienteering Championships in 2029 will take place in Örnskjoldsvik, Sweden. That was decided by IOF Council during a meeting on Friday. WOC 2029 will be the fifth World Championships taking place in Sweden – the most recent being WOC 2016 in Strömstad. Sweden also made a bid for the World Orienteering Championships in 2027 and was praised for their bid of high quality. The coming World Orienteering Championships are: 2024 Scotland (Sprint), 2025 Finland (Forest), 2026 Italy (Sprint), 2027 Hungary (Forest) Photo: Sweden won the WOC 2023 women’s relay in Switzerland. By Thomi S ..read more

This weekend, the prestigious 10Mila relays take place in Nynäshamn in eastern Sweden with more than 6000 athletes. IOF TV airs all three relays – Youth, Women’s and 10Mila – from Saturday afternoon and until Sunday before noon, when the Women’s relay is decided. Go to IOF TV In this episode of the IOF Podcast, IOF TV expert commentator Jonas Merz shares his thoughts on the new format, where both the Women’s and 10Mila relays contain a break and are resumed with a chasing start later after some hours, favorites and the terrain. Listen to the episode here or in your favorite podcast app. Photo ..read more

This weekend, the forests near Nynäshamn in Sweden host this year’s 10Mila relays with close to 900 teams in total and more than 6000 athletes. Teams from 13 countries in total have registered to race. And you will be able to follow all three relays on IOF TV in both English and Finnish commentary. The 2024 edition feature an innovation as the 10Mila and Women’s relay contain a break after three and two legs respectively, allowing both relays to have night legs. Women’s relay have six legs instead of five this year. As always, the four-leg Youth Relay kicks off the 10Mila fun, this year a litt ..read more

The list of candidates for the 2024 IOF Council elections taking place at IOF General Assembly on July 15th is now final as the deadline for nominations has passed. During this year’s General Assembly, a President, two Vice Presidents and four Council Members are to be elected. It is IOF’s Member Federations who nominate the candidates and each federation may only be represented by one person in the Council.   List of nominations: Nomination for President: Tom Hollowell (USA)   Nominations for Vice President: László Zentai (HUN) Linda Take (SWE) Ildze Straume (LAT)   Nominations ..read more

How should you act if you know the terrain before a race, meet an injured runner in the forest or are asked for directions? These are some of the topics covered in the new basic Fair Play course, that has just become available on IOF’s E-learning platform. The course consists of 14 different lessons with text and video clips – all with a short quiz in the end and it is a great opportunity to update the knowledge on key fair play issues before, during and after a race for everyone. It is strongly recommended for youths and juniors with ambitions of participating in international events IOF’s Fa ..read more

The spring really comes to Finland on Friday evening when the 2024 Finnish Relay League kicks off in the southwestern corner of the country. Kevätyönviesti is the first of seven rounds of the league in 2024, where Tampereen Pyrintö are defending champions in both women’s and men’s classes from last year. The three-leg relays take place in the forests west of Pargas and will include a considerable amount of night orienteering. You will be able to follow both relays from 19.25 to 23.55 EEST (UTC+3) on IOF TV, where Jonas Merz takes care of the English commentary. The tickets are 6 EUR and includ ..read more

Athlete Representatives to the IOF Athletes’ Advisory Groups for the new two-year term 2024-2026 has been elected by the athletes for all four disciplines. See the election results here. The elected IOF Athlete Representatives represent the voice and interests of athletes and are part of consultation- and decision-making processes within the IOF organisation. Empowerment of athletes is a key element in developmnt of international orienteering. There is one Athlete Advisory Group (AAG) for each discipline with a minimum of 4 members and a maximum of 6 members. The groups must have one or more m ..read more

Following consultation with the Member Federations and IOF Athlete Representatives, the IOF Council has unanimously approved to open up for independent athlete participation in World Ranking Events through IIA status for eligible athletes. The approved scope for IIA status will come into effect on 1 July 2024. One of the IOF’s 3 guiding values is “Inclusive”. Increasing the ability for individual athletes to participate in and develop orienteering is a key element of inclusivity. Under current IOF rules, participation is not allowed for athletes from countries where there is no national orient ..read more